US Supreme Court to hear immigrant rights, patent cases

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] granted certiorari Monday in four cases, including one where the Court will clarify the rights of illegal immigrants [AP report] upon reentering the United States after having been deported. In Fernandez-Vargas v. Gonzales , the Court will decide whether the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996 [DOJ fact sheet], which limits opportunities for reentering illegal immigrants to become legal citizens, applies to people already present in the US when the law took effect. The Court has also agreed to hear Laboratory Corp. of America v. Metabolite Laboratories, where it will decide whether a medical test that predicts strokes, heart attacks and dementia is patentable. AP has more. The Court will also hear two cases [SCOTUSblog report] involving the admissibility of crime victim's "excited utterances." Among the cases the Court declined to hear Monday was an attempt to have class-action lawsuits against cellphone makers dismissed [AP report]. Consumers have filed lawsuits against the cellphone industry for failing to protect consumers from unsafe levels of radiation, and the companies had asked that the suits be dismissed, saying federal standards pre-empt state law claims. The Court also denied certiorari in a case involving legal fees for insurance companies [AP report] that were ordered to publicize their Holocaust-era records. Read the Court's full Order list [PDF].

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